Moon Rabbit - Modern References

Modern References

• The moon rabbit was mentioned in the conversation between Houston and the Apollo 11 crew just before the first moon landing:

Houston: Among the large headlines concerning Apollo this morning, there's one asking that you watch for a lovely girl with a big rabbit. An ancient legend says a beautiful Chinese girl called Chang-o has been living there for 4000 years. It seems she was banished to the Moon because she stole the pill of immortality from her husband. You might also look for her companion, a large Chinese rabbit, who is easy to spot since he is always standing on his hind feet in the shade of a cinnamon tree. The name of the rabbit is not reported.

Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin: Okay. We'll keep a close eye out for the bunny girl.

• Kenneth Anger's 1972 film Rabbit's Moon takes inspiration from the folklore of the moon rabbit.
• The Black Rabbit of Inlè from the 1972 novel Watership Down is a mythical moon rabbit.
• The American electronic music group Rabbit in the Moon, founded in 1991, gets its name from this legend.
• Usagi Tsukino (in Japanese, Tsuki no Usagi: "the moon's rabbit") from the 1991-1997 manga series Sailor Moon is named after the legend.
• The character Reisen Udongein Inaba from the video game series Touhou Project, introduced in the 2004 game Imperishable Night, is a moon rabbit who escaped from a war between the Moon and the Earth.
• The 1998-1999 Japanese-exclusive Transformers animated series Beast Wars II features Moon, a robotic rabbit who lives in the moon with Artemis.
• Chang-o and the rabbit are seen in the webcomic Gunnerkrigg Court by Tom Siddel, first launched in 2005.
• Yumigami, a god from the 2006 video game Ōkami, is based on The Moon Rabbit folklore. It hides in the moon's reflection and holds a mallet used for a mochi pestle.
• The rabbit in the moon is a major theme in the 2011 musical South Street, with the rabbit appearing prominently in the moon clock in Sammy's bar, and the main character being advised to "Look to the rabbit" for inspiration.
• Stuart David mentions the rabbit in the moon on his Looper album 'The Geometrid' in the track 'Modem Song'.
• In the Batman comic book series, " Lovers and Madmen" (which tells another version of The Joker's transformation and his first encounters with Batman and Harleen Quinzel), one of The Joker's first epiphanies following his fall in the acid vat is that there is a bunny in the moon.
• Umbreon, a Pokemon species, is possibly based off of the Moon Rabbit.
• In the Dragon Ball episode "Boss Rabbit's Magic Touch" ("Usagi Oyabun no Tokui Waza" (うさぎオヤブンの得意技), Goku exiles Monster Carrot and his henchmen to the moon, where they are shown pounding on rice cakes.